Santander chief barred for three months by court

Santander's chief executive, Alfredo Sáenz, has been banned from working as a
banker for three months by Spain's Supreme Court after a judgement over a
previous conviction for making a false accusation.

Alfredo Saenz, chief executive of Santander, will appeal to appeal to Spain's Constitutional Court against the ban.Photo: HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY

Mr Sáenz was also handed a three-month jail sentence by the Madrid court, however he is thought unlikely to have serve this.

The court's decision against Mr Sáenz, 68, who has run Santander since 2002, follows a long-running case over an earlier conviction against the banker relating to his tenure as chairman of Banesto, a bank owned by Santander.

In 1994, Mr Sáenz was found to have made false accusations against debtors of Banesto, having been brought in as administrator and executive chairman of the bank the previous year after the Bank of Spain was forced to step in to rescue the lender.

After Santander bought Banesto it continued to employ Mr Sáenz as the bank's chief executive and he developed a close relationship with Santander's chairman Emilio Botín.

Mr Sáenz is set to appeal to Spain's Constitutional Court and is also asking the government to commute the sentence.

Related Articles

In addition, Mr Sáenz has asked the Provincial High Court of Barcelona, which issued the original judgement against him, to suspend the execution of the sentence until all the appeal have been heard, which is expected to take between two and four years.

Santander, which is the biggest bank in the eurozone, came out strongly in support of Mr Sáenz and said he would continue as the bank's chief executive despite the ban.

In a statement the bank said: "With maximum respect for the judicial decisions, the board confirms its confidence in Mr Alfredo Sáenz so that he may continue to carry out his responsibilities as the bank's chief executive officer."

The Spanish market had been full of speculation of a ban against Mr Sáenz for several months and Santander's shares close down 1.4pc yesterday at €8.17 (£7.02).

There is little expectation of any succession war at the bank and Mr Botín remains a strong supporter of his embattled chief executive.

One of the most obvious potential candidates to replace him was António Horta-Osório, the former chief executive of Santander UK, who took over this month as chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group.

Mr Horta-Osório's decision to quit Santander was thought to be driven in part by a feeling that he was unlikely to be handed the top job at the Spanish bank, facing as he did tough internal competition from Mr Botín's own daughter, Ana Patricia Botín, who ended up replacing him as head of the UK business.

Santander hopes to float its UK operations on the London market as early as this year in a deal that is likely to value the business at about £20bn and that could raise as much as £4bn to £5bn for the bank.